Sharp County record., 1887-02-17

D
ard YOU believe little or nothlu5 VI '.
NAV have been 700 rigid or severe II,
RELIGIOUS discipline and cracked you W..
the head with a psalm boob u may 'o
that some partner in business W"o .,.J "as
n.on,bar of an evangelical church, plat7u
ON Won a trick that disguised you WIN [o'
| Iigion It NAV be that you have assoclaVsS
| t,sbo have talked against Christianity ~
vour presence until you are "al at sea-
| and y0r dwell more on things you uo rov
ba'icve than on things you do DeheYe' you
ora in one res,ect Ike Lord Nelson, Wneh
. signaI was lifted that he wished 70 Glsre-
I card, and he put his sea glass to MS oi'h1
/ eve and sad: Il really do not see tpo ''s
gal." o. my hearer, put this helu gLaSS VI
| the Gosnel ho longer TO your blind eye anu
/ savT can not see. but pnt i 10 your oIhei
eve, the eve Of faith, and Jon WIZ See
| christ. and He is all you need to see
/ If YOU can believe nothing else, you GER
/ tainlv beiieve in vicarious suherlng' Ior
Won see it almost every day in some shape
/ last month the steamship kricscrbocker'
of the Cromwell line, running oe'Heou
/ New Orleans and here, was IN Srt"V
| storm. and the captain ana crew sd" 'no
schooner Mary D. Cranmer IN ulSIrco9'
| The weather cold, the waves mOuhUdlh
| high. the first officer of the Steamship anu
four men put out in a life-boat to save we
crew of the schooner, and reached the YES,
sa' and towel It out of danger, the Wmu
shifting so that tie schooner was saved
But the five men of the steamship coming
back their boat capsized, yet flshteu
/ again and came on, the sdi'-
| oTs coated with Ice The boat
capsizel again, and three times upset ana
was r,ghted, and a line was thrown Tue
poor fellows. but their hands and arms
/ were frozen so they could not grasp II, ana
great wave rolled over them, and they
| went down. never to rise till tho sea gives
up its dead. Appreciate that herolsm anu
/ self-sacrifce of the brave fellows we al
can. and can we not appreciate the ChtI9'
who nut out in a more biting cold and INTO
| a more overwhelming surge to Or'hS Us
ont of infinite peril INTO everlasting sale,y J
| The wave of human hate rolled over linn
on one side, and the wave of helhsh fury
rolled over Him on the other side. On Ihe
/ thickness Of the night and the thunder ol
| the tempest into which Christ plunged lor
| our rescuel
| Come in on that one narrow beam, the
beam of the cross. Let all else go and
cling to that. Put that under YOU and
with the earnestnesS Of swimmer strug-
ging for his life put out for the shore
There is a great warm fire OF Welcom
already built. and already many, VINO were
as far out as you are, are standing in its
genial ami Heavenly glow. The angels OF
Gods rescue are wading out into the SUR
to clutch your hand, and they know how
exhausted you are, and all the redeeme
prodIgals Of Heaven are on the bench with
new white robes to ClOthe all those VINO
come in on broken pieces of the snip.
Nv svmpathies are for such all the more
because | was naturally skeptlcal, disposed
to question every thing about this life ami
the next, and was in danger of being furth-
er out to sea than any Of the two hundred
and seventv-sx in the Mediterranean
breakers, and | was sometimes the annoy
ance of my theological professor because
asked so many questions. But l came ID
on a plank knew Christ was the Saviour
Of sinners, and that ! was a sinner, and
got ashore, and do not propose to 90 out
on that sea again. | have not for thir-
ty minutes discussed the controyerted
points Of theology in thirty years. Ana
during the rest of my life do not propose
to discuss them for thirty seconds.
| would rather, in L mud scow, try to
weather the worst cyclone that ever swept
up frcm the caribbean than risk my I'M
mortal soul in useless and perllous discus
siOns in which some Of my brethren IN the
ministry are indulgng. They remind me
of company of sailors standing on Rams
gate pier head, from which the hfe-boats
are usually launched, and coolly discussing
the different style Of Oar-lOCkS and how
deep boat ought to set in the water, Wale
a hurricane was in full blast and there
are three steamers crowded with paS5en-
gers going to pieces in the oitng. Anoid tar,
| the muscles of his face working with nerv-
GUS excitement, cries out: This is no time
to discuss such things. Man the life-Doat
| Who will volunteer! Out with her into
the surf Pull my lads, pull for the wreck!
| Ha, ha, now we have them Lift them III
! and lay them down on the bottom OF the
boat. Jack, you try to bring them to. Put
| these haune,s around their hands and feet,
| and | will pull for the shore God help
met There! Landed! Huzzaw Whe"
| there are 50 many struggling in the waves
| of sin and sorrow and Wretchedness, let all
else 60 but salvation for time and salvation
| forever.
| bethink myself that there are some
/ here whose opportunity or whose life is a
] gnly n m u
! piece left. You started in your youth with
all Soils set, and every thing promised
| grand voyage but you have sailed in the
wrong direction or have fOundered on a
rock YOu have only a fragment Of time
| left. Thea come in on that one plank
"Some On broken pieces Of the shin"
/ You admit that you are all broken up
one decade Of your life gone by, two de-
cadss, three decades, four decades, or d
half century, perhaps three-quarters Of a
century gone. The hour hand and the
minute hand of your clock Of life are al
most parallel, and soon it will be twelve
and your day ended. Clear discouraged
are you! | admit that it is sal thing tC
give all of your lives that are worth any
thing to sin and the devil, and then at last
to make God a present Of tirst-rat(
corpse. But the past you can not recover
Get on board that old ship, you never will
Have you only one more year left one
more month, one more week, one more
day, one more hOur-come in on that Per
haps if you get to Heaven God may let you
go out on some great mission to some Other
world, where you can somewhat atone foi
your lack of service in this